1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus using a computer, and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus and method which can change an image to be shown on a reflection surface when this reflection surface is the surface of an object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer aided image processing techniques are used in simulation apparatuses, game machines and the like. Generally, simulations and games are provided by computer programs in such a manner that each object of an image or the viewpoint on the display is moved in accordance with the manipulation by an operator and the resultant image is displayed on a monitor TV or the like. In this case, the coordinates of objects and texture, such as the color and pattern of the surface of each object, which are acquired by computation performed by a computer program, are subjected to a rendering process (filling process) to obtain color data pixel by pixel, which is in turn written in a frame buffer memory. The pixel-by-pixel digital color data written in the frame buffer memory is converted to analog color data, which is then displayed on the monitor TV or the like.
When texture of the surface of an object is a reflection surface, the aforementioned rendering process can similarly directly be utilized by treating an image to be shown on that surface as one kind of texture data.
According to the conventional image processing, however, what is used for an image to be shown on such a reflection surface is merely image data simply drawn in a fixed form, and no attempts have been made to show even an object, which is changing or moving in real time by a computer program, on such a reflection surface. Even when the viewpoint is changing frame by frame, an image to be shown on a reflection surface does not change and thus appears unnatural. For pictures with scenes always changing as in a video game, therefore, it is desirable to produce an image to be shown, which changes in real time in accordance with the movement of a real image.